Breaking Through Limiting Beliefs

Breaking through limiting beliefs is one of the most powerful things you can do to change your life. This self development article shows you why and how you can prevent your beliefs from blocking your success, life's purpose and from discovering your special talents and gifts.

What are limiting beliefs?

A belief is something that you are pretty sure is true because you have been told so by someone or a source that you trust. When you carry them through to adulthood, depending on what they are and how ingrained they are, they can have a significant effect on the way you live your life.

A limiting belief is a belief that stops you from taking an action. That action may well improve your circumstances, but you can never find out as you stop yourself from going down that route. In essence, you limit yourself because of your belief.

Where do limiting beliefs come from?

You actually perceive the world in a way that is based on your belief system. Your beliefs are, in effect, your reality or personal world and they stem from some 'thing' or some 'encounter' in your life. Your current beliefs could have been:

* Instilled by family or friends
* Learnt through your education system
* Discovered through personal experience
* Developed via your religious, political or other activities

Some examples of limiting beliefs

Toddlers and young children generally accept what they are told. They do not know if it is true or false. More often than not, these become your limiting beliefs - beliefs that can block you from discovering your special talents and gifts. You may have been told that you were:

* not bright enough to go into further education
* not fit enough to do under water diving
* too inexperienced to take a certain job
* too young to play a music instrument
* too overweight to join dance classes
* too nervous to perform in public
* too old to take up a new hobby
* too immature to understand

(You may think of countless other examples!)

Why it is beneficial to break through limiting beliefs

There are several self development tips and personal growth tools (Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Music Therapy, etc) on how to break through limiting beliefs, but do you actually know why it is beneficial to do so?

What you have achieved in your life so far has been determined, or constrained, by your limiting beliefs. Breaking through these opens the door to new opportunities and experiences. In essence, you allow yourself to do things that you had been fearful of in the past. Research has shown that this new freedom can lead to greater success at home and at work. Your life changes.

As just one example, consider all the self development information and self help tips that surround people. They read the self development articles and books, watch the videos, attend the seminars and listen to the mentors, but few people are actually able to change their lives. Why? Your limiting beliefs can stop you from putting what you learn into practice. They prevent you from achieving the success you truly want.

Breaking through limiting beliefs is also important for the progress of mankind overall. People used to think the world was flat. Then it was discovered that this was not so. It was believed that nothing could travel faster than the speed of sound. Then light was found to travel even faster. Limiting beliefs block new ideas, new concepts, new inventions, new medical treatments and advancement generally.

How do you break through limiting beliefs?

Research studies have shown that successful people are very good at breaking through their limiting beliefs to achieve what they want. However, if these beliefs have been ingrained from a very early age, you may not realise that you can actually change them if you want to.

The first step to breaking through them is to be aware that every decision you make is connected to them in some way. Your beliefs guide what you think about, your actions, your choices, the way you interact with people, etc.

The second step is to realise that you can actually choose to have a certain belief, and that beliefs can be changed at any time. The quickest way to change your life is to change your beliefs.

The third step is to take action and actually change your belief. One way to do this is to list what things are stopping you from achieving x, y and z. Analyze each one in turn. Ask yourself if what you have written down is 100% true or just something that you believe because of a person or an experience.

Anyone can change their life by changing their beliefs. Decide what you want to change in your life and then look at your beliefs to see which can be changed in order to achieve what you want. The effect on your personal growth is amazing. You no longer see obstacles as dead ends but begin to look for new ways of resolving problems and issues to achieve your goals.

Limiting beliefs - Self development summary

Breaking through limiting beliefs is one of the most powerful self development tools for changing your life. It opens your mind to new concepts and to new ways of doing things. It helps you to overcome obstacles, to achieve more and to discover your special talents and gifts. All in all, it opens the doors to more opportunities and experiences with an end result of greater success in your personal and work life.

To receive further articles do visit the 'FREE Self Development Newsletter' link below. For my Background, Passions and why I write articles like these, see:Dr JOY Madden